How about a full trilogy this time as well? Chirari was good, but incomplete.

And how about a Western physical release? I would buy that for full price no question.

Umihara is BACK! I'll be working to route an All Unlocks Run. I'll be discovering an Umihara game with everyone else at the same time for the first time since 2013! Learning each of these games is straight up MAGICAL!

Looking through the replies to that Twitter post, it seems that the only addition to the existing Vita version of Sayonara will be some new artwork, plus there's some to-be-announced stuff regarding the packaging. So yeah, at the moment it seems like the point is mainly to give the Vita version of Sayonara a physical release outside of Japan. I'm quite surprised that is happening, but I definitely won't say no to it!

Okay, so a trilogy then? Aw, my hopes for a new game were up. Still, I'd be happy to have a trilogy now and new ones later. Probably want to get that out there to have the Switch be the unification platform. Still looking forward anyway. I was expecting a new installment to be more like Sayonara just with better graphics and more accessibility features, and that's fine. They could make the game harder and more random, and it would still sell better.

Update 09/05/18 at 10:15 p.m.: Umihara Kawase Fresh! is developed by Studio Saizensen with character design by Toshinobu Kondou, just like previous entries. It also uses the same rubber engine, so the way the controls feel is also the same.

Thanks, @Success_G3.

Update 09/07/18 at 2:05 a.m.: To change up the gameplay style, Umihara Kawase Fresh! gets rid of the previous entries’ stage system for a quest-based system on a Metroidvania-type connected map. Players aiming for the best times can use techniques to find shortcuts, and players who aren’t good at that can clear quests by taking the long way.

I don't mind the changes in gameplay style and I wonder whether they think such a move might gain the series more popularity. Or if they just wanted to do something new with the series, that's cool too.

I do hope it gets a PC release, but if it's only being developed for the Switch at first then I'll certainly get that version.

The gameplay change is fine. But hunger and thirst meters? Really? What’s next, stamina? Is your hook going to break after a few uses? If it’s stretched too far, is it gone unless you have or can get another one? Those seem more like annoyances than anything. Is the game after this going to have procedurally generated levels that take less effort to make and have fake replay value? The series seems to be losing its identity. What was wrong with the structure before? It just needed some polish and content that’s all. Not an overhaul.

On the plus side, Switch exclusivity will help the game sell more and create repeat buyers for ports.

The gameplay change is fine. But hunger and thirst meters? Really? What’s next, stamina? Is your hook going to break after a few uses? If it’s stretched too far, is it gone unless you have or can get another one? Those seem more like annoyances than anything. Is the game after this going to have procedurally generated levels that take less effort to make and have fake replay value? The series seems to be losing its identity. What was wrong with the structure before? It just needed some polish and content that’s all. Not an overhaul.

I understand your concern about the hunger and thirst meters and am interested in seeing how they'll work, but I doubt they'd go the route of having to replace hooks and I absolutely agree that would be a bad idea.

September 5: Umihara Kawase Fresh! is developed by Studio Saizensen with character design by Toshinobu Kondou, just like previous entries. It also uses the same rubber engine, so the way the controls feel is also the same.

September 7: To change up the gameplay style, Umihara Kawase Fresh! gets rid of the previous entries’ stage system for a quest-based system on a Metroidvania-style connected map. Players aiming for the best times can use techniques to find shortcuts, and players who aren’t good at that can clear quests by taking the long way.

September 8: Success Corporation will consider porting Umihara Kawase Fresh! to other platforms after the Switch release. Since it is not being developed as a multiplatform game, development on a port would not start until after the Switch release. Assuming it is released for other platforms / Steam, it may not be until at least half a year after the initial release. Right now nothing has been decided.

September 8: The game uses a quest-based system on a giant map. However, if you choose a quest without a time limit, you can go to any area of the map without having cleared the quest. The higher you go up and the lower you go down, the more the image of the world will change. You can also change the difficulty.

September 9: Just like previous entries in the series, Umihara Kawase Fresh! has multiple playable characters, including a new character. In fact, that character was one of the only things Success Corporation asked the development team for this time. Her identity is still a secret, and she will not be revealed at Tokyo Game Show 2018.

September 10: There is a story within this quest-based Umihara Kawase Fresh!. Event scenes are also being prepared.

Thanks for the tweet summaries, sol, much appreciated. Can't wait to play it! This would definitely push me towards getting a Switch sooner rather than later, if it's going to be exclusive for quite a while.

Personally I'd be quite happy with a shift back to 2D, be it chibi or whatever. Their 3D animation work in Sayonara was pretty poor, honestly.

I just watched the video and liked what I saw. The quests shown off weren't dissimilar to the type of stages we're familiar with; just larger, which I think is a good move. It definitely feels to me like they're trying to keep the core appeal of the gameplay intact, but just expand on how it's presented. I'm still looking forward to swinging around the whole map when possible, though.

What struck me the most was the tadpole boss stage. No more having to wait for it to go through its patterns; actively reduce its health by hooking onto it where safe to do so. Great news.

Now for what I thought. As I expected, it looks like Sayonara but with a new artstyle. The publisher did say it was using the Rubber Engine from the last game a while back.

That means it will be easy transitioning from Sayonara to Fresh! Since the mechanics will most likely be the same.

I like the new artstyle, I would have to actually play to see what I think with regards to the Metroidvania type stuff: collecting food, etc.

Since they're using the Rubber Engine, I wonder if the game won't be far off from completion. If it's at 20-30% now with a demo, I'd want it out ASAP to play. Maybe between July to September next year it will be released.

I cannot help but feel I wont enjoy Fresh as much as I am not a very big metroidvania fan but I hope it introduces more people to the series (as long as it isn't a total eclipse). Do enemies only stun now? If it comes to peecee I will support it since it still looks fun but I feel like being a switch exclusive at this time will do wonders for it's popularity

I hope the Sayonara music is just placeholder. I would like original music.

I knew that the game would attempt some sort of story. That doesn't surprise me. There isn't too much of it.

Bigger, more descript, more detailed levels are a plus. As well as new enemies. This game is living up to being fresh already.

The hunger and thirst meters deplete very slowly. It's a good thing they don't boss you around constantly and dominate the game's priorities list.

The tadpole doesn't even kill you anymore? It just stuns you now? Lame! On the plus side, you actually directly attack it like you would expect instead of figuring out this obtuse puzzle on how to damage it (or just waiting for it to go away). And the tadpole doesn't look oddly realistic and creepy anymore so that's a plus.

I'm glad that there is a new installment on a popular console that addresses many of the criticisms I've had with the series. This could be the long-awaited big break. Let me guess- it's coming out in December to coincide with the 25th anniversary. I don't see why it would take THAT long.

The hunger and thirst meters deplete very slowly. It's a good thing they don't boss you around constantly and dominate the game's priorities list.

I don't know what you were watching.

1) The Hunger meter only depleted anytime she got hit by an enemy which suggests it's just a regular old health bar.2) Never saw the Thirst meter deplete, so we don't even know what causes that to deplete.

I haven't been able to keep up with all things Umi lately, so I'm extremely grateful for Sol-alpha taking the time to not only make this topic but gather all of this information.

The idea certainly is one that fits in with the rubber band physics, speed running, and also a genre that has definitely gotten more eyes on it over the past five years. Getting a chance to see what they've done as well, I'm very excited for the possibilities. There's definitely a far greater focus on expanding the Umihara Kawase brand to a more mainstream appeal, which is even further noted by a multi-linguistic release. That is if I remember reading correctly. While game play and time trial were always the lasting appeal, I can definitely see speed runners more so gravitating to this (and I'm presuming that they'll also include a New Game + that is commonly seen alongside metroidvania titles). Saizensen really wants more people to go on an adventure with Umihara, and this could very well be the means to do so.

What I found rather interesting, and pleasant, is while it's a bit of an adjustment not seeing Kondo's traditional artwork up front and center I find the chibi designs to be very pleasing to the eye. Especially since Umi decided to show off a bit of midriff for this iteration, it focuses it more on cute instead of the more asset-driven works we've seen come from the Sayonara releases. I'm also glad that they're still keeping those backgrounds as crazy as ever.

The physics aspect seems to be the same as it was in Sayonara, which I personally don't mind. Of course it'll come down to getting our hands on it and properly fooling around with it to really judge but I didn't see anything that gave me flashbacks to Portable or really any cause for concern.

It's hard to really comment on how the survival mechanics will feel in action, as the three short demonstrations don't necessarily do a good job of showcasing how they'll fully function. It could either be a nice touch, or a pain in the ass. Sadly, most survival mechanics are the latter and I could see that being a point of contention.

It's going to be the most interesting seeing how the fanbase responds to this. While there's still the core elements of the same game there, it's definitely a departure to say the least. The story mode alone speaks volumes to that. but I'm quite excited to see what comes of all this. I'll be ready for next year!

【Emergency announcement】 January 4, 2019 (Fri.) 13: 00 ~ 18: 00 We will conduct a user experiences meeting of Hidaka River Fresh Fresh. The location is Tokyo Gotanda Success Headquarters. We prepare souvenirs for those who participate. Fans of New Year holidays gather in Tokyo Gotanda. Please leave the schedule as I write the details again later! # Horigiri River

Also, there's new details on the site, a physical version has been confirmed but that means the game will be 5800 yen. No final release date yet, still has 2019. But there's new art in the link above, it could become the cover art.

Edit:

It's also been mentioned on that site that the game is currently 60-70% complete. I'm pretty sure I remember the game was only 30% complete back at TGS 2018.

So maybe the game will be out by April? Definitely expecting it within the first half of next year.

I would be expecting a December 2019 release for the 25th anniversary. It's a good thing we will probably be getting the game earlier, since launching in the holidays has never been good for this series and almost led to it being only one or two installments.

I would be expecting a December 2019 release for the 25th anniversary. It's a good thing we will probably be getting the game earlier, since launching in the holidays has never been good for this series and almost led to it being only one or two installments.

Heya, now that is really fantastic! Today looks to be a great day for Umi-chan news, as it looks like Amazon Japan has started to take orders as well. Which means that where-ever you import from, they most likely will be too.

Nice! I'll probably import a copy in any case, even if just for collection purposes, but I wonder if it'll be released worldwide on the eShop around the same time.

It's planned to be released the same time worldwide on the eShop.It's just that Success haven't revealed yet who is the publisher outside Japan and yes, they said someone else is handling the release outside Japan. I'm guessing it's Circle but we'll probably find out soon.

The physical release on Amazon features an option to include a Umihara Kawase themed calendar with your order, this a limited edition order exclusive to Amazon and will bump the price a little compared to just ordering the game alone. You can choose to order only the game if you want.

The only thing confirmed right now is online leaderboards.They've been drip feeding info on the game since it was revealed at TGS 2018. So who knows if or when they'll confirm in-game achievements.

Yeah,but online leaderboards are too challenging for me...I hope they'll at least have some unlockable contents(arts,soundtracks,etc)for collecting backpacks or something,to make me feel I'm good at this game after all

New gameplay footage of Cotton, here she has been given the ability to fly like from the games that she's from (Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, and other titles).Don't worry, as mentioned already, leaderboards will be segmented for each character in the game.

You can spend a lot of time in it if you want. There are stages 0-12 with one boss fight. The game is playable in English. There is a challenge mode for the boss fight. Time attack mode is for the online leaderboards but that is implemented in the full game, not the demo.

There is a lot to explore, there are hidden items and you can end up exploring other areas in the game as long as you don't lose.

I noticed the "Rocket Dash" is different in Umihara Kawase Fresh! Putting the hook into the ground and running from one side to the other doesn't propel you as strongly as it did in Sayonara Umihara Kawase. You now have to run to one end and jump then run to other side to build up momentum hence the "Rocket Dash" as shown by Sakai back when he demoed the game at Tokyo Game Show 2018.

Hello all, this is my first time posting here. I was introduced to the series by DidYouKnowGaming's recent SNES Games Trivia episode. I looked up some videos and was intrigued. Luckily enough for me, I learned the demo was on the Japanese eShop soon, and I had a Japanese account on my Switch.

The fish hook mechanic was much more complex than I expected. Slowly but surely, I was able to beat all the levels and the challenge mode boss level, but I struggled with some. I am interested in speedrunning this game. However, there is a lot of techniques I can't seem to do, like the rocket dash in the wall climb. If you could help me with this I would appreciate it.

For the challenge mode boss level with the ice, I was able to beat it by grappling onto the fish and dangle off the ledge to dodge his first time coming towards me, then I was able to make it under him. I hid in a bottom left corner to dodge most of the attacks on both the normal and challenge difficulties. The slippery ice was hard to run on, but I was able to beat it just barely with one hit point of my health left.

I can post my speedrunning times here and even record gameplay of my speedruns. It is hard for me to speedrun this game as I am not to the series, though. On the first level I was able to get 23.80 on March 28, and by learning a route to go left I brought my time down to 21.35 on March 29. I have trouble getting up the left wall at the start and doing a pendulum swing to get to the last platform early can save more time.

Hello all, this is my first time posting here. I was introduced to the series by DidYouKnowGaming's recent SNES Games Trivia episode. I looked up some videos and was intrigued. Luckily enough for me, I learned the demo was on the Japanese eShop soon, and I had a Japanese account on my Switch.

The fish hook mechanic was much more complex than I expected. Slowly but surely, I was able to beat all the levels and the challenge mode boss level, but I struggled with some. I am interested in speedrunning this game. However, there is a lot of techniques I can't seem to do, like the rocket dash in the wall climb. If you could help me with this I would appreciate it.

For the challenge mode boss level with the ice, I was able to beat it by grappling onto the fish and dangle off the ledge to dodge his first time coming towards me, then I was able to make it under him. I hid in a bottom left corner to dodge most of the attacks on both the normal and challenge difficulties. The slippery ice was hard to run on, but I was able to beat it just barely with one hit point of my health left.

I can post my speedrunning times here and even record gameplay of my speedruns. It is hard for me to speedrun this game as I am not to the series, though. On the first level I was able to get 23.80 on March 28, and by learning a route to go left I brought my time down to 21.35 on March 29. I have trouble getting up the left wall at the start and doing a pendulum swing to get to the last platform early can save more time.

So being new to the series actually helps you...You can’t grab the tadpole and dangle off the edge in previous games,and there was no HP bar as well,any body contact with enemies and you fail.This game is a lot easier to beat at least.

So being new to the series actually helps you...You can’t grab the tadpole and dangle off the edge in previous games,and there was no HP bar as well,any body contact with enemies and you fail.This game is a lot easier to beat at least.

I guess having a new perspective helped! It turns out you don't need to throw the fishing line over and over again against the boss, keeping the line hooked in will slowly drain down its health even if you get hit. So if you grapple on and dangle over the ledge, you can deal a lot of damage while being safe from the fish. I keep my line on the boss as it jumps up, then I get hit but I get to the left of it. Keeping the line on the tadpole as long as I could, I was able to bring down the time to 23 seconds in both Time Attack and Challenge mode. Just make sure not to get hit while being over the ledge. Even if you deplete all of its health, you will still die if you run out of health or fall off the ledge when the boss has no health left.

Also, here are my times and the history of them in the demo so far. I might make videos of these later. I referenced these from screenshots I took over the course of this week. Some of the levels I have not played much so they might be too slow, and also since this is my first Kawase or fishhook game of any kind it's hard for me to play. But, I was able to bring all but one of my times under a minute!

Now here I am proud to present beating the demo in under 12 minutes from the start of the first quest to the end of the last quest, 11:57 real time and 8:33.99 in-game time. After playing Time Attack some I thought I would speedrun the full demo on fresh save data. I am having a hard time learning the techniques (as you can see I don't use Rocket Jumps and move slowly through the levels) but no one else has speedrunned the demo on YouTube yet, I think. Also after 6 attempts I got my first run with no death, hooray! Earlier today I got a 14:42 and 13:21 but they had so embarrassing deaths and mistakes. This run went pretty well I think except for the complete fail on Quest 5. Sorry for some recording issues in the middle. Even with my bad playing hopefully you all will enjoy the new game in a speedrun!

A reminder for anyone playing Umihara Kawase Fresh! Any video clips and screenshots you save to your SD card on your Switch can be accessed on your PC. This way you can just grab the files and then upload them to wherever you like such as YouTube.

So I just finished Kawase's story mode and when it got to the credits, unless I missed it, Kiyoshi Sakai's involvement in the game wasn't like the first trilogy, he was listed as the only "Support" staff on the game.